To hear ChanHee Cho sing Rossini’s “La calunnia è un venticello” even on YouTube, is to listen to an accomplished performer well on his way to recognition as an artist, someone who would be at home on the world’s most prestigious opera stages. His bass is sonorous, at ease at the highest registers, at full power throughout the long crescendo and with hints of much more in reserve – in all, a superb performance by a singer who doesn’t seem to have much more to learn. All the more surprising, then, is the fact that this young South Korean singer is at the start of his career, one of the six promising vocalists honing their craft at the Dutch National Opera Studio.
This two-year traineeship, that aims to prepare young talents for an international opera career with a combination of workshops and professional experiences, is the chance of a lifetime for aspiring singers. Even though already into his third month with the Studio, Cho still seems to be trying to wrap his head around the privilege of being one of the participants. “I was so happy, like a child,” he told me during our Zoom conversation, still shaking his head in disbelief when asked about his reaction upon being chosen.
This response is even more understandable considering that it initially seemed to be an opportunity offered, then lost. He was first asked to join by Welsh soprano Rosemary Joshua, the Studio’s artistic leader, four years ago, Cho told me. “I had just won the first prize at the Neue Stimmen Competition when Rosemary wrote me an email, telling me I was invited to audition. I had to tell her: I am sorry, I have to join the army!” Two years passed before his mandatory service was done, and thinking his chance with the Dutch lost, he busied himself with further voice training while applying to opera studios elsewhere. “Yet, four years later, long after I had finished military service, Rosemary again invited me. I was extremely surprised!”
Cho got his first real taste not only of competing against other aspiring performers but also of singing before an audience in 2017, at the Musical Olympus International Festival of St. Petersburg. The breakthrough came later in the same year, with triumphs in two international competitions. In particular, it was his performance at the Neue Stimmen competition in Gütersloh, Germany, that caught Joshua’s ear. Of the 1,430 singers from 76 nations who applied, Cho prevailed round after round to win top honors for male vocalists with his masterful rendition of “La calunnia,” Bartolo’s signature aria in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. He had already triumphed the year before at the Gian Battista Viotti International Music Competition – the youngest of all the competitors at only 23. In Germany, 12 months later, Cho was again the youngest, and facing 39 rivals, many with more years of singing behind them. But, though he may have had the butterflies, his performance was that of a seasoned pro, and the fact that he had some impromptu encouragement in the background may have calmed any of the jitters.
“Even now,” he recalled, “when I rewatch the video of the final round it seems that the orchestra member behind me liked my aria and sang along with it. And he was not the only one who encouraged me. When I sang the high notes, I saw people in the audience nodding their heads, like they liked my singing,” Cho told me with a shy smile – all the more endearing because it is so at odds with the strong stage presence he displayed in his winning performance. “As for the orchestra musician, I don’t know him personally. But if I will ever meet him again, I want to tell him Dankeschön.“
To hear him tell it, it was not the first time that the members of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra motivated him – although it took him a while to register that they were doing so. “I heard them saying 'super, super!' as I left the stage after my first and second rounds.” What he didn’t immediately realize, however, was that the German pronunciation of the word is similar to the Italian zuppa. “I thought they were saying 'soup' in Italian. I was appreciative of their smiles but at the same time a bit confused, to say the least,” he laughed.